By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - European stock markets pushed higher Thursday, helped by stronger than expected export data from China as well as a call for more stimulus for the region.
At 4:20 AM ET (0820 GMT), the DAX in Germany traded 0.6% higher, France's CAC 40 rose 0.5%, while the U.K.'s FTSE index traded up 0.3%.
Earlier Thursday, Chinese exports grew 3.5% in April from a year earlier, completely confounding expectations of a 15.1% fall and outweighing a 14.2% drop in imports.
The surprise stoked speculation the world's second largest economy could recover from its coronavirus lockdown quicker than first thought and support global growth in the process.
Closer to home, European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos called for greater cooperation in fiscal policy from the region’s political leaders to support the recovery.
Stating the euro zone economy is facing a deep recession, he told the European Parliament's committee on economic and monetary affairs that "it is thus vital that the fiscal response to this crisis is sufficiently forceful, in all parts of the euro area."
In corporate news, Zalando (DE:ZALG) stock soared over 10% after the Berlin-based online retailer predicted double-digit growth in 2020.
On the flip side, BT Group (LON:BT) fell over 8% after the telecoms group said it would suspend its dividend until 2022 to fund a restructuring plan to deal with the pandemic. BT also faces stiffer competition after Telefonica (MC:TEF) and Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) confirmed the merger of their O2 and Virgin Media services.
The day’s key economic release will be weekly U.S. jobless claims at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT), a precursor to Friday’s key monthly official employment.
Economists expect claims for first-time unemployment benefits rose by another 3 million last week. That would continue the downward trend of new claims, which totaled 3.8 million the week before.
This follows data suggesting the U.S. private sector shed a record 20.23 million jobs in April, according to Wednesday’s report by payrolls processor ADP (NASDAQ:ADP).
Oil futures slipped Thursday, despite the Energy Information Administration reporting a smaller-than-expected increase in U.S. crude oil stocks late Wednesday as investors consolidate recent gains.
At 4:20 AM ET, U.S. crude June futures traded 0.5% lower at $23.88 a barrel. The international benchmark Brent contract fell 0.6% to $29.52.
Elsewhere, gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,694.20/oz, while EUR/USD traded at 1.0794, largely flat.